SWIFT REACTION
When the most powerful man in the world mocks the most influential woman in music, it’s not about her. It’s about us.
I wasn’t planning to write about this.
Then my daughter said: “That’s great you spoke up for Bruce — what about Taylor?”
Sometimes a man says something so small, so petty, so transparently awful that it stops you mid-scroll. You reread it, not because you didn’t catch it the first time, but because you can’t believe someone actually typed it, read it back, and decided: yes, that’s the thing I want to say to the world.
Trump’s Truth Social post about Taylor Swift was one of those things.
"Has anyone noticed that, since I said ‘I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT,’ she’s no longer ‘HOT?’"
It’s not just the childish phrasing. It’s not even the misogyny — though that’s baked in. It’s the fact that the sitting President of the United States thought this was an appropriate use of his voice, his power, his platform.
And when I read it, I thought of my daughter. Of every young woman who grew up with Taylor’s music as a kind of compass. Of how proud I felt watching the Eras Tour documentary beside her. And how sick I felt realizing that the most powerful man in the country is still rating women on a scale of how desirable he finds them.
This post isn’t about Taylor Swift.
It’s about what kind of country we’re becoming if this is what we tolerate from a man we’ve handed power to twice.
WHY DO I CARE
I’m not Taylor Swift’s target audience — and I know it. Her music wasn’t written for middle-aged men who quote Springsteen lyrics and ice their knees after walking the dog. But that doesn’t mean I can’t recognize brilliance when I see it.
I watched the Eras Tour film from start to finish with my daughter, and by the end, I understood. The creativity, the endurance, the production scale — it was staggering. Each act, each outfit, each song shift told a story. It was as precise as it was personal. I didn’t just sit through it; I was riveted.
I may not be a Swiftie, but I respect the hell out of Taylor Swift — not just for her talent, but for her stamina, imagination, stagecraft, and the sheer professionalism it takes to pull something like that off. I respect the way she’s taken control of her career, the way she navigates public life, and the joy she brings to people without compromising who she is. I get why my daughter loves her in the same way I love Bruce. Both artists tap into something bigger than sound — they bring people together. They remind you of who you were, who you are, and who you’re trying to be.
That’s why this isn’t about fandom. It’s about decency. I'm not speaking for Taylor, who can more than defend herself from the likes of Donald Trump. I am speaking out for the young women out there, including my daughter, who revere Taylor and just witnessed a crazy misogynistic attack on her by the President of the United States.
WHAT TRUMP SAID (TWICE)
“I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT.”
That’s the Republican nominee for President of the United States in 2024, screaming into the void like a wounded teenager. Not about a political rival. Not about a corrupt oligarch. About a pop star. A woman who writes songs. Responding to the fact that she — a private citizen and artist — chose to support his rival.
It’s not just petty. It’s petulant. It’s the language of a man who can’t control his impulses — or his resentments.
“Has anyone noticed that, since I said ‘I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT,’ she’s no longer ‘HOT?’”
Now, this is where the misogyny really kicks in. Because there are only two ways to interpret that — and both are poison.
One: He’s saying she’s not popular anymore. That she’s lost her influence. Which is a lie so blatant it almost doesn’t need a rebuttal. But fine:
She just completed the first $2 billion tour in music history.
She’s the wealthiest female musician in the world, with an estimated net worth of $1.6 billion.
She holds the all-time record for most Album of the Year Grammy wins — four.
She’s won 30 MTV Video Music Awards — also a record.
In January, her Lover (Live From Paris) vinyl release sold out in under an hour.
She’s not fading. She’s defining the moment.
Beyond the numbers, she brings real value to every community she visits. In city after city, she’s helped local food banks and nonprofits, often leaving behind donations that go unpublicized until the charities themselves share the news. In Cardiff, her gift enabled 1,200 people to eat for three days. In Liverpool, it paid for a full year of food costs. She’s donated millions to hurricane relief and education, and she’s done it without spectacle. She doesn’t publicize her generosity. She just practices it.
Donald Trump, meanwhile, was forced to dissolve his charitable foundation in 2018 after the New York Attorney General found a “shocking pattern of illegality.” He used donor money to pay legal fees, buy personal items, and promote his campaign — behavior so egregious that he was ordered to pay $2 million in damages and banned from operating a charity in the state of New York.
Two: He’s rating her attractiveness. Out loud. In public. As a man nearing 80, talking about a woman in her 30s — someone young enough to be his daughter. Actually, younger than one of his daughters. A little older than my daughter. The value he sees in women boils down to whether he’d sleep with them. That’s how his mind works. That’s how his mouth works. It’s not new, but it’s still sickening.
And it tells you everything you need to know about how he sees power, worth, and gender.
He doesn’t hate Taylor Swift because she’s not hot. He hates her because he can’t touch her. Because she’s bigger than him. Because she didn’t kiss the ring. And he can’t stand that kind of woman.
So he lashes out — like always. And we’re supposed to pretend it’s just another day in the circus.
But it’s not. It’s grotesque. And it deserves to be called out.
AGE AND POWER GAP
Taylor Swift is 35. That’s four years older than Tiffany Trump. Eight years younger than Ivanka. A little older than my daughter.
And yet, this is who Donald Trump — a 78-year-old president who commands the most powerful arsenal on earth — and still finds time to insult pop stars, chooses to target? A woman who writes music. Who dances and performs and sells out stadiums. Who is arguably the voice and inspiration of two generations of women. Who bothers no one. Who simply exists with power and autonomy. And that, for him, is more than enough provocation.
If any ordinary man said this about a young woman, we’d call it what it is — creepy, insecure, inappropriate. If your boss said it, HR would be called. If your grandfather said it, you'd shift uncomfortably and change the subject. But Trump says it, and millions pretend it’s just Trump being Trump.
That’s the problem.
There’s nothing normal about a man in his condition — physically, emotionally, morally — talking about the "hotness" of women half his age. There’s nothing okay about someone who looks like he’s been marinating in spray tan and spite for four decades making public judgments about someone who trains, rehearses, and performs at the highest physical and artistic level.
There’s a power gap here. And a generation gap. And a gap in basic decency that he has no intention of closing.
This wasn’t a joke. It wasn’t a quip. It was contempt. And it reveals far more about him than it ever could about her.
THE CORE PROBLEM
This isn’t about music. It never was.
Trump doesn’t see women as people. He sees them as props, ornaments, threats, or trophies. Their worth is transactional — based on what they give him, how they serve him, how they make him feel.
Taylor Swift is the kind of woman he can’t stand: successful without his help, admired without his permission, and completely uninterested in flattering his ego. He can’t fire her. He can’t buy her. He can’t diminish her. So he tries to insult her into submission.
This is a pattern — not a moment. He’s done it for decades. Whether it’s journalists, political opponents, or celebrities, Trump’s instinct is always the same: attack what you can’t control.
And when it’s a woman? That attack gets uglier, faster.
This is the man who responds to allegations of sexual assault by saying the woman "wasn’t his type" — as if ethics would permit the act, but aesthetics disqualified it. The implication isn’t that assault is wrong. It’s that the accuser wasn’t attractive enough to merit the crime.
This is the man who openly bragged about owning the Miss Universe pageant, and with it, the power to walk unannounced into dressing rooms while contestants — many of them teenagers — were in states of undress. He anticipated their vulnerability, their discomfort, and saw that as his prerogative. His privilege.
Because for all the talk about strength and dominance, Trump’s worldview is paper-thin. It’s built on needing to be wanted, feared, obeyed. When someone — especially a woman — refuses to play along, he reacts with resentment masked as bravado.
That’s what this was. Not commentary. Not comedy. Just contempt dressed up in a punchline.
CONCLUSION
Once again, Trump has shown us exactly who he is.
He didn’t just insult a pop star. He attacked a woman for having power he couldn’t control, an audience he couldn’t reach, and a mind of her own. It’s the same playbook, again and again: ridicule, reduce, retaliate.
And it always says more about him than it does about them.
But this time, the cultural world pushed back — loudly. Tino Gagliardi, president of the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada, publicly rebuked him, defending both Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen not only as artists, but as role models whose voices inspire millions. In his words: “Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift are not just brilliant musicians, they are role models and inspirations to millions of people in the United States and across the world. Whether it’s ‘Born in the USA’ or the Eras Tour, their music is timeless, impactful, and has deep cultural meaning. Musicians have the right to freedom of expression, and we stand in solidarity with all our members.”
It shouldn’t take a union president to say what should be obvious.
But I’m glad he did. Because silence is how this kind of cruelty stays normalized.
Taylor Swift didn’t become less hot in any sense of the word.
Donald Trump just keeps getting colder.
Nailed 'er Wayne. If it were a simple matter of misspoken or inappropriate there might be a smidgen of forgiveness but objectifying women is a pattern learned at the paternal knee and until better role models get the message such filth will be normalized. There are more women in med school than men. How threatening to know women are taking their places as professionals, as business women ( which ultimately the likes of Dolly Parten before Taylor are).But this, this is a whole stinking level of sleezy for which there should be no tolerance...NONE! What loving father could stand his daughter relegated to such an attack of depravity?
Thank you again for speaking out so clearly! Kudos to your daughter, for sharing her love and respect for Taylor Swift, and for talking so directly to her Dad about what she is expecting! 💫